vegetable ivory tree

noun

A tropical South American palm, Phytelephas macrocarpa, whose seed is used as a substitute for ivory; the tagua palm.

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Meanings

nounvegetable ivory tree (plural vegetable ivory trees)

plural vegetable ivory trees

  1. A tropical South American palm, Phytelephas macrocarpa, whose seed is used as a substitute for ivory; the tagua palm.

    The vegetation had again changed, and only the vegetable ivory tree remained, with a great profusion of wonderful orchids, among which I learned to recognize the rare Nuttonia Vexillaria and the glorious pink and scarlet blossoms of Cattleya and odontoglossum.

    1912, Arthur Conan Doyle, The Lost World […], London; New York, N.Y.: Hodder and Stoughton, →OCLC
Cite this entry
APA

vegetable ivory tree. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vegetable%20ivory%20tree

MLA

“vegetable ivory tree.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vegetable%20ivory%20tree. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “vegetable ivory tree,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/vegetable%20ivory%20tree.

Source: vegetable ivory tree on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.